Staple extractor



June 12, 1956 J. E. BURBANK 2,750,148

STAPLE EXTRACTOR Filed Aug. 10, 1953 INVENTOR J/QQWAQ A" BY ATTORNEY United States Patent "cc STAPLE EXTRACTOR John E. Burbank, Stamford, Conn., assignor to Stamford Machine Company, Inc., Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 10, 1953, Serial No. 373,270

3 Claims. (Cl. 254-28) This invention relates to a staple extractor.

Those skilled in the art appreciate fully that numerous staple extractors have been developed over a period of years, and that there are numerous patents covering staple extractors. However, no truly simple and automatic staple extractor has as yet been developed in this art. The staple extractor of this invention forming my contribution to the art is, I believe, a most effective instrument because despite the extreme simplicity of its construction, it is completely automatic and effective in operation. Thus, my staple extractor embodies two mechanical parts pivoted relatively to one another for extremely simple movement with a single spring maintaining the parts in a normal position in readiness for operation.

In brief, my invention comprises a pair of levers each equipped with a finger piece, the two levers being adapted for pivotal movement and being held in a predetermined position by a single spring. The construction of the parts is such that one of the levers engages solidly and firmly the base of a staple and elfects the movement of a part of the other lever under the staple so that the continued movement of the two levers will bring about the automatic extraction of the staple. As a further detailed feature of my invention, the staple is not only extracted but is also so manipulated as to be free of the extractor tool itself when the extracting operation has been completed.

I have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of my invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that my contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of my invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception on which my disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures within the scope of my claims for carrying out the several purposes of my invention.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side view showing my staple extractor applied to a staple and demonstrating the position of the fingers relatively to the staple extractor. Fig. 2 is an end view of the parts of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an exploded view showing the three parts of my staple extractor. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of parts of the staple extractor showing the staple partially extracted. Fig. 5 is a partial section along line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings and especially Figs. 1 and 3, reference numeral indicates what I term the base lever of my staple extractor. This base lever may be formed of one piece of metal or may be formed of two parts welded together so as to comprise an integral single operating lever. The finger piece of the base lever 10 is designated by reference numeral 11, and the lever has a bifurcated portion with legs 12 and 13, each of which has a rounded end tip 14. The

2,750,148 Patented June 12, 1956 slot between the two legs of the bifurcated portion is designated by reference numeral 15.

My staple extractor has a further lever that I term a puller lever which is designated by reference numeral 16. Puller lever 16 is formed of one piece of metal or of two pieces welded together to form a finger piece 17 and an integral hook 18. The base lever 10 and the puller lever 16 are formed with mounting holes designated by reference numerals 19 and 20 whereby through a pin 21 the two levers may be pivoted to one another.

A spring 22 is applied between the levers as is well illustrated in the drawings to maintain the levers normally in their relative position of Fig. 1. In this position it will be noted that hook 18 extends beyond the end of the bifurcated portion of the base lever 10 and is considerably in advance of the rounded ends 14 of the legs 12 and 13. When it is desired to extract a staple, the extractor is merely placed against the material M in which the staple S is found. The hook 18 is placed against the base of the staple S as is quite clear from an examination of Figs. 1 and 2. It is also clear from the figures that the hook 18 is adapted to ride from its position of Fig. 1 into the slot 15 between the legs 12 and 13 of the base lever 10. Also, the continued movement of the hook 18 will bring it up and above the slot 15 so that the hook will be able to free itself of the staple base as the staple is extracted, all as will be apparent presently.

With the hook 18 applied to the staple base as in Fig. 1, a mere drawing together of the finger pieces 11 and 17 by the fingers shown in Fig. 1, will eifect a movement of the tips 14 of the base lever 10 against the base of the staple S. This is obviously true because the hook 18 cannot move since it is against the staple base S, and therefore the base lever 10 will first move against the pressure of the spring 22 until it contacts the staple base. This movement will be completely automatic in character and will require no guidance or prying. Once the tips 14 are against the staple base S a further bringing together of the finger pieces 11 and 17 will effect a movement of the hook 18 of puller lever 16 into the slot 15, and this will be accompanied by a movement of the legs 12 and 13 under the staple base. This action of the extractor is well illustrated in Figs. 4'and 5, these figures showing very clearly just how the hook 18 of the puller lever 16 rides in the slot 15 of the base lever 10.

From Figs. 4 and 5 it is also apparent that each of the legs 12 and 13 tapers outwardly and also upwardly. In other words, each of the legs 12 and 13 becomes wider so that the outer surfaces of the legs 12 and 13, as best seen in Fig. 5 taper away from one another while simultaneously tapering upwardly away from the material M in which the staple S is found, as is Well seen in Fig. 1. Therefore, the rotation of the two levers relatively to I one another through the bringing together of the finger pieces 11 and 17 effects an upward movement of the staple from the material M and also a wedging outward movement of the staple as is clearly apparent from the drawings. This brings about a full extraction of the staple. Further since hook 18 will ride out of slot 15 and over the slot, it automatically releases itself from the staple S and facilitates the separation of the steple from the extractor.

I am aware that substantially automatic staple extraction has been accomplished in the prior art, but so far as I know, it has always required a complex action of the parts of the extractor and has not been possible by mere pivotal action of simple parts coacting automatically with the staple. Also, such extraction as has been covered by the prior art, has required the coaction of several parts and it has not been possible to obtain the automatic effective extraction of my invention through the use of merely two mechanical parts and a single spring. I do believe that the very considerable simplicity of my invention, its automatic and efiective operation, will now be clear to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a staple extractor of the class described, a base lever, a puller lever, means mounting said levers for pivotal movement relatively to one another, a spring pressing said levers on said pivotal mounting into a predetermined position, a bifurcated end portion on said base lever comprising a short central slot and a pair of legs adapted to abut a staple base, said puller lever having a thin sheet-like blade positioned and moving in a plane at right angles to the pivot about which said levers move, and in alignment with said slot, a hook on the end of said puller lever blade adapted to move in the slot between the legs of said bifurcated end portion as said levers pivot relatively to one another, said hook extending beyond the end of said bifurcated portion when said levers are in said predetermined position whereby the pivoting of said levers from said predetermined position moves the legs of said bifurcated portion against the base of a staple while said hook engages the center of the staple base to propel said staple over said legs while pulling said legs simultaneously under the staple base, said legs of said bifurcated end portion curving and tapering upwardly and outwardly from the ends thereof to cam the staple upwardly, and the hook end of said puller lever riding above the slot of said bifurcated portion whereby to move beyond the slot as said levers pivot relatively to one another.

2. In a staple extractor of the class described, a base lever having a finger piece, a puller lever having a finger piece, a pivot mounting said levers for pivotal movement relatively to one another, a spring pressing said levers on said pivotal mounting into a predetermined position in which said finger pieces are most widely separated, a bifurcated end portion on said base lever comprising a central slot and a pair of legs adapted to abut a staple base, said puller lever having a finger piece and a thin sheet-like blade extending from said finger piece for positioning and movement in a plane at right angles to the pivot about which said levers move, and in alignment with said slot, a hook on said puller lever blade adapted to move in the slot between the legs of said bifurcated end portion as said levers pivot relatively to one another incidental to the movement of said finger pieces toward one another, said hook extending beyond the end of said bifurcated portion when said levers are in said predetermined position whereby the said pivoting of said levers from said predetermined position moves the legs of said bifurcated portion against the base of a staple as said hook engages the center of the staple base to propel said staple over said legs while pulling said legs simultaneously under the staple base, said legs of said bifurcated end portion curving and tapering upwardly and outwardly from the ends thereof to cam said staple upwardly, the hook end of said puller lever riding out and above the slot of said bifurcated portion whereby to move beyond the slot as said levers pivot relatively to one another.

3. In a staple extractor of the class described, a base lever, a puller lever, means mounting said levers for pivotal movement relatively to one another, a spring pressing said levers on said pivotal mounting into a predetermined position, a bifurcated end portion on said base lever comprising a short central slot and a pair of legs having rounded ends adapted to abut a staple base, said puller lever having a thin sheet-like blade positioned and moving in a plane at right angles to the pivot about which said levers move, and in alignment with said slot, a hook on said puller lever blade adapted to move in the slot between the legs of said bifurcated end portion as said levers pivot relatively to one another, said hook extending beyond the end of said bifurcated portion when said levers are in said predetermined position whereby the pivoting of said levers from said predetermined position moves the legs of said bifurcated portion against the base of a staple while said hook engages the center of the staple base to propel said staple over said legs while pulling said legs simultaneously under the staple base, and said legs of said bifurcated end portion curving and tapering upwardly and outwardly from their rounded ends whereby the hook end of said puller lever and said bifurcated portion between them extract a staple as said levers pivot relatively to one another.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,033,050 Pankonin Mar. 3, 1936 2,079,672 Allen et al May 11, 1937 2,499,432 Von Cseh Mar. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,019,366 France Oct. 29, 1952 

